At 2.5 miles, I was feeling charged. The first mile had been brutal. I'd been in the kitchen all arvo making bread, tamales, and my new favorite treat: coconut butter cups with honey sweetened peanut butter in the middle. They are akin to chocolate peanut butter cups, but somewhere in this mix of things, I've lost my taste for chocolate. I really am a freak...
JE was with me, running in his crappy little Tigers I can't get him to throw away. I asked him how his feet were feeling and if they could stand to run another mile. Of course, for me that man would walk through fire. And so we ran. Not fast, but thorough.
We turned around and began running back. The Nike training app lady told us we had gone 4 miles. Running became easier, we only had two more miles left!
I wanted my 10k tonight, and I earned it. It's been a while since I've been so on fire to run. Somedays I'm totally motivated and able, others times I struggle. But I've got to keep on moving (ain't nobody going to break my stride...). Even though i am sore and tired, it feels good to move.
Being on the otherside of things is, in a way, enlightening. From where I stand now, things look so much brighter. I've enrolled in a couple classes--including a sailing class! And have some perspective of where I'm headed. There is so much I want to know and do. Life just gets better.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Nike training
The slight crescent of moon hung low and was soon enveloped by the incoming marine layer as we raced up the hill next to our home. It was a tough run, the kind that makes my mouth taste of blood as my lungs stretch to accommodate more oxygen. It felt great to sweat. We were dripping wet by the time we got home. It was only about a mile and a half total, but we ran hard.
Nike Training Club is narrated by a female voice that guides the workout and tells you to, "Grab your equipment." Invariably, JE grabs his equipment, often putting his weights down to grab his crotch.
This morning, I went to visit a friend in Fullerton. We shopped at the farmer's market and played with her boys after school. The past month has been full of good friends, several of whom I hadn't seen in years. It's been a huge blessing to be surrounded by these positive people. People who bring so much light into my life and still love me when I get dark. But I don't feel so dark these days. I feel strong and ready for whatever is ahead.
Tonight I hosted dinner and craft night for my neighbor's two girls, ages seven and five. We made pizza. Later we made pipe cleaner and sparkly bead tiaras. It was so fun. JE made up new names for them: Creat-Lin and Addi-mazing. We also spent a lot of time designing "food." Things like grapefruit flavored cats, throw up pancakes, macaroni and pickles, and ham flavored pajamas. All the things that would never fly at a dinner table where parents are involved. This is who we get to be.
And I learned a super easy pizza dough recipe:
Pizza dough
4oz unbleached flour
1/2 ts sugar
1/2 ts yeast
1/4 ts salt
Whisk ingredients together and add
1/3 cup water
Mix until coarsely mixed. Add two ts olive oil to a two cup container with a lid. Roll dough in oil and let rest on counter for half an hour. Refrigerate 1-24 hours, removing from the fridge one hour before using. Pat out into 12 inch pizza pan a with oiled fingers. Cover and let rest 35 minutes. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 475 F. Bake crust for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and add toppings. Bake another 5-7 minutes. Serve sliced and hot!
Nike Training Club is narrated by a female voice that guides the workout and tells you to, "Grab your equipment." Invariably, JE grabs his equipment, often putting his weights down to grab his crotch.
This morning, I went to visit a friend in Fullerton. We shopped at the farmer's market and played with her boys after school. The past month has been full of good friends, several of whom I hadn't seen in years. It's been a huge blessing to be surrounded by these positive people. People who bring so much light into my life and still love me when I get dark. But I don't feel so dark these days. I feel strong and ready for whatever is ahead.
Tonight I hosted dinner and craft night for my neighbor's two girls, ages seven and five. We made pizza. Later we made pipe cleaner and sparkly bead tiaras. It was so fun. JE made up new names for them: Creat-Lin and Addi-mazing. We also spent a lot of time designing "food." Things like grapefruit flavored cats, throw up pancakes, macaroni and pickles, and ham flavored pajamas. All the things that would never fly at a dinner table where parents are involved. This is who we get to be.
And I learned a super easy pizza dough recipe:
Pizza dough
4oz unbleached flour
1/2 ts sugar
1/2 ts yeast
1/4 ts salt
Whisk ingredients together and add
1/3 cup water
Mix until coarsely mixed. Add two ts olive oil to a two cup container with a lid. Roll dough in oil and let rest on counter for half an hour. Refrigerate 1-24 hours, removing from the fridge one hour before using. Pat out into 12 inch pizza pan a with oiled fingers. Cover and let rest 35 minutes. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 475 F. Bake crust for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and add toppings. Bake another 5-7 minutes. Serve sliced and hot!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Endurance
This evening, as the sun was setting, I jumped in the pool, determined to swim my mile. It wasn't easy. Johne had just come home from work, and I really just wanted to hang out and chat with him. But the pool also beckoned. There is a price to pay for anything desirable, and that mile is my price tag for fitness and sanity. So I swam, pausing every once in a while at the end of the lane to chat with JE who treaded water near the wall. He was my distance buoy; as the sun set, the lights in the pool failed to come on and the wall became invisible.
With this latest chapter of my life, I've come to respect and appreciate this amazingly kind man who adores me, more than ever.
Yesterday, all day I had been looking forward to my run. But I didn't get out fast enough, and the weather turned hot. I waited until JE came home. We ran together, joking and laughing. We made up games about certain areas being sprint zones, or super skid zones like in video games. My time wasn't so great, my legs felt leaden. Probably all the salt from the potato chips the previous day...
Okay, mostly I was kidding about the potato chip curing my faintness. In reality, it was probably because I had finally begun to eat again and my body really missed food and salt, in particular. (I had started a secret blog for family and friends that tracked the past few months. If you are interested, shoot me your email address; but be warned, it got grizzly at the end.)
I am still limiting my sugar, avoiding sweets and added sugar to foods. Sweet is kind of yucky to me, now. And I don't like chocolate, I never thought I would ever have that problem. I am a freak.
With this latest chapter of my life, I've come to respect and appreciate this amazingly kind man who adores me, more than ever.
Yesterday, all day I had been looking forward to my run. But I didn't get out fast enough, and the weather turned hot. I waited until JE came home. We ran together, joking and laughing. We made up games about certain areas being sprint zones, or super skid zones like in video games. My time wasn't so great, my legs felt leaden. Probably all the salt from the potato chips the previous day...
Okay, mostly I was kidding about the potato chip curing my faintness. In reality, it was probably because I had finally begun to eat again and my body really missed food and salt, in particular. (I had started a secret blog for family and friends that tracked the past few months. If you are interested, shoot me your email address; but be warned, it got grizzly at the end.)
I am still limiting my sugar, avoiding sweets and added sugar to foods. Sweet is kind of yucky to me, now. And I don't like chocolate, I never thought I would ever have that problem. I am a freak.
Monday, May 21, 2012
I feel almost like I'm starting from scratch again. After nearly three months of bed rest with another failed pregnancy and a trip to the emergency room to take care the inexplicable amount of pain I was in as I miscarried, I find myself having a difficult time getting back into the swing.
Thursday, I swam a mile and a bit. Friday, I ran five miles, and ran it in good time. Now, I'm trying to break myself of a nasty little habit I'm trying not to develop, namely: potato chip addiction. After surgery, I couldn't get me head back around, I was fainting at every turn. My doctor had me back on bed rest, not the place I wanted to be at that point, too much thinking. But after I started eating chips, good, salty chips, I started to come around again. My head cleared and Ive been feeling better: physically and emotionally. However, this isn't a long term cure. Actually perhaps part of the malady. So...
So, I am in the midst of planning my week and figure that this blog really helped my accountability in the past. One of the things I wanted most to do while I was confined to not being able to do anything, was to run, workout, swim, lift weights and work on getting in shape. Instead, I watched with great satisfaction as my waistline disappeared and my muscle tone went away.
Our travel plans for my birthaversary went away. Thank goodness JE bought travel insurance on a whim. We were able to get back all but a hundred dollars. The worst part is that we sat in the doctors office, learning that there was no longer a heartbeat at precisely the time we were to take off from LAX.
But I'm Ok. Surprisingly so. My heart broke, but is mending well and more soundly than I would have expected. I just need to figure out what to do with this amazing amount of time I've got this summer. I am learning to stay focused and concentrate. There are goals in my life, things I've neglected, and now, right now, this moment, I will revisit those things and make a plan to achieve them.
I will also check out some nutrition plans. Food is tricky. I'm happy to have it, but need some regulation in it. Not a stringently, but I want to feel my best and strongest. What is the plan of attack for that? I'm not sure. But I will work on it this week and let you know. I'll also make a plan for the week for fitness. Do I still want my marathon? Do I want to get better and fast in a triathlon? Do I want to do an open water swim? The only goal I actually know is that I want to be lean and strong. Lean comes from diet, strength comes from me and how much I am willing to workout.
I am nothing, if not phoenix. Burn me to cinder, and I still bank coal.
Thursday, I swam a mile and a bit. Friday, I ran five miles, and ran it in good time. Now, I'm trying to break myself of a nasty little habit I'm trying not to develop, namely: potato chip addiction. After surgery, I couldn't get me head back around, I was fainting at every turn. My doctor had me back on bed rest, not the place I wanted to be at that point, too much thinking. But after I started eating chips, good, salty chips, I started to come around again. My head cleared and Ive been feeling better: physically and emotionally. However, this isn't a long term cure. Actually perhaps part of the malady. So...
So, I am in the midst of planning my week and figure that this blog really helped my accountability in the past. One of the things I wanted most to do while I was confined to not being able to do anything, was to run, workout, swim, lift weights and work on getting in shape. Instead, I watched with great satisfaction as my waistline disappeared and my muscle tone went away.
Our travel plans for my birthaversary went away. Thank goodness JE bought travel insurance on a whim. We were able to get back all but a hundred dollars. The worst part is that we sat in the doctors office, learning that there was no longer a heartbeat at precisely the time we were to take off from LAX.
But I'm Ok. Surprisingly so. My heart broke, but is mending well and more soundly than I would have expected. I just need to figure out what to do with this amazing amount of time I've got this summer. I am learning to stay focused and concentrate. There are goals in my life, things I've neglected, and now, right now, this moment, I will revisit those things and make a plan to achieve them.
I will also check out some nutrition plans. Food is tricky. I'm happy to have it, but need some regulation in it. Not a stringently, but I want to feel my best and strongest. What is the plan of attack for that? I'm not sure. But I will work on it this week and let you know. I'll also make a plan for the week for fitness. Do I still want my marathon? Do I want to get better and fast in a triathlon? Do I want to do an open water swim? The only goal I actually know is that I want to be lean and strong. Lean comes from diet, strength comes from me and how much I am willing to workout.
I am nothing, if not phoenix. Burn me to cinder, and I still bank coal.
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